Railways put heat on India’s airlines
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Last year’s high airfares in India might have added to airlines’ woes, especially low-cost carriers, but it has helped railways improve its earnings, a report said. While air traffic during April-November dipped nearly 4%, the number of passengers travelling in air-conditioned coaches in trains shot up by more than 18%, the Economic Times reported.
The report said while airfares rose steeply during 2008, mainly because of rising jet fuel prices, the Railway Minister had wooed passengers by lowering fares by up to 7% in the Rail Budget, giving a tough time to budget carriers.
Although airlines have started slashing fares with falling jet fuel prices (54% since September 2008), they are still expected to lose around money in the current financial year, the report said
The report said while on long-haul routes, such as Bengaluru-Delhi and Mumbai-Kochi, airlines had managed to remain more competitive, on short-haul routes, such as Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Amritsar, budget carriers were finding the going tough. Most of the budget carriers have either cut the number of flights or stopped flying on shorter routes such as Hyderabad-Chennai and Bengaluru-Hyderabad.
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